“Summer Time Rendering” is a crime-thriller anime released in the spring of 2022, animated by the animation Studio “OLM,” which is known mostly for animating the Pokemon Series. The series depicts the serious yet tense vibe of a single murder, exactly like a Sherlock Holmes Novel.
Summer Time Rendering anime follows the story of “Shinpei,” a teenage boy studying in Tokyo, away from his family. But he has to come back for the funeral of his friend “Ushio,” a teenage girl who is declared to have taken her own life. But things take a strange turn when he observes finger marks on Ushio’s neck.
Shinpei barely starts to investigate this on his own when the life of Ushio’s sister “Mio” also comes into danger because of some “curse” present in their village. This curse is termed “Shadows,” which are evil entities that can become your doppelganger.
“Haine” is the God of these Shadows and is responsible for this entire massacre. Shinpei, alongside all this mess, discovers that he can go back in time to a certain checkpoint after he is killed to re-do things and get to the root of Ushio’s case. This might be a fantasy series, but it does not kid around with the whole mystery aspect. The Summer Time Rendering has it all: plot twists, sudden character changes, and manipulation.
Here are the top 10 anime like Summer Time Rendering that you will love watching.
1. Erased
Following the time travel theme like Summer Time Rendering, Erased is the story of “Satoru,” a 29-year-old man who can foresee an accident by going back a few minutes before them. He has saved a lot of lives through his power. But one day, he is accused of murdering a person, and he uses his power to go back in time to do things right.
Unfortunately, this time, he goes back 18 years to the past, where he tries to solve the murder of his female friend “Hinazuki.” He discovers different things about his power and factors that affect Hinazuki’s everyday life. The things he changes in the past change everything in his future.
- Number of Episodes: 12 episodes
- Personal Rating: 8.00
2. Re: Zero – Starting Life in Another World
Re: Zero has the same premise as Summer Time Rendering. The series follows the story of a teenage boy, “Subaru,” who gets isekai’d (transported to another world) suddenly. There, he meets an elf-girl “Emilia” who tells him that her name is “Satella.” She saves him from bandits, and as payback, he wants to help Emilia find her lost pendant. Things get dark as both of them are killed in pursuit of her pendant.
Subaru is later restarted from the point he entered the mysterious world and realizes he has the power to go back in time after being killed. But this time, things go different as Emilia reveals the truth that her name is Emilia, and late on, we learn that Satella is the witch who summoned Subaru into this mysterious world. But why did she do so? For that, you have to tag along and start this anime.
Opening and ending songs, music composition, voice acting, and villains. Everything about Re: Zero anime is worth the watch.
- Number of Episodes: 50 episodes + 2 OVAs
- Personal Rating: 9.5
3. Wonder Egg Priority
An anime that follows the same time-travel theme and the series’s main protagonist has the same heterochromia condition (different color of both eyes) as Shinpei. “Ai” is a high school girl who is differentiated from other class girls because of her heterochromia condition. But she has only one friend “Koito,” who takes her own life.
After this, a mysterious creature contacts Ai and takes her to a machine, where she buys an egg- A Wonder Egg. After cracking it open, a person who took her own life appears in front of her. Now, the condition she must meet to save Koito is that she has to save this person from the monsters that chase her (known as “Seeno Evils”), and when she does, Koito will slowly start to come back to life.
During the whole story, you will notice some dark and bizarre aspects about the people Ai saves and some backstories which are so strange that you will never expect them. Will she be able to bring her friend back to life?
- Number of Episodes: 12 episodes + 1 special
- Personal Rating: 8.00.
4. Higurashi When They Cry (2020)
Following both the time travel and curse aspect of Summer Time Rendering, the series tells the story of “Keiichi,” a high school student who had to transfer to the village of Hinamizawa because of his dad’s transfer but soon blends in with everyone in his class, which mostly includes girls.
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Things go a bit off for him as he witnesses his friends act strange sometimes whenever the village’s annual festival is mentioned. This series follows different storylines as whenever Keiichi dies, he starts from zero.
Later in the series, it is revealed that this village has a dark past regarding a “curse” that kills a single individual every festival. The time travel aspect of this anime is highlighted in the second part, where the two girls, “Satoko” and “Rika,” try to kill each other to get a future in which one of them is dominant. Just like Summer Time Rendering, some Gods are responsible for these curses. The only different aspect of this anime from others is that it is a horror anime with a lot of gore.
- Number of Episodes: 39 episodes.
- Personal Rating: 8.90.
5. Shiki
Following the curse aspect, Shiki is a horror series that takes place in the small town of Sotoba, whose population is so small that everyone knows everyone. The death of a young-jolly girl “Megumi,” worries everyone in the town. At first, the only doctor in the town declares that she died due to a pandemic that has spread throughout the town, just like COVID.
So, everyone stays in their homes in hopes of some betterment. But slowly, the speculations go towards it being a curse, which was cast by the new family that just transferred to this town.
We later learn that the people killed by the disease that Megumi was killed by turn into “Shiki” (zombies) after they die. The horror in this anime is quite chilling as a good horror anime is a rarity. So, you will enjoy this series like Summer Time Rendering.
- Number of Episodes: 22 episodes.
- Personal Rating: 8.30.
6. Odd Taxi
Odd Taxi is an original anime series that blew the internet with how unique it was. It occurs in a world where animals live and work every day, just like humans.
“Odokawa,” a Walrus, your everyday taxi driver and like every driver, likes to indulge in the life of his passengers during their tour. He meets animals of all kinds every day. But everything turns upside down when the case of a lost high school girl goes around town, and the first suspect of the police is Odokawa as she was seen last time riding his taxi.
This might seem like a childish anime of animals living their life, but the mystery aspect of it is by far the most appealing on this list. And wait for the last episode, as that will turn the whole perspective of anime around for you!
- Number of Episodes: 13 episodes
- Personal Rating: 10.0
7. ID: INVADED
An original anime series that is a bit sci-fi takes on the premise of Summer Time Rendering. It does not share either the time travel or the curse aspect properly, but it takes the mystery aspect to another level.
ID: INVADED follows the story of “Narihisago,” a detective who is now a prisoner because he killed the murderer of his daughter. He has a bit of an obsession with killing assassins because of his daughter’s case. Despite all this, he is still working with the detective agency “Kura” in investigating crimes using the modern technology of “ID well” (a psychological realm created with a criminal’s unconscious mind, to investigate a crime scene from the perspective of the criminal to get clues).
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However, one may die if they get killed in the “ID well” realm, so, Narihisago is the perfect volunteer for this as he is a prisoner. During all the criminal cases, you will notice dark aspects about both Narihisago and assassins as you dive into the bizarre minds of murderers.
- Number of Episodes: 12 episodes
- Personal Rating: 8.00
8. Tokyo Revengers
Tokyo Revengers is a time-travel series that follows the life of “Takemichi,” a 26-year-old unemployed man who has made too many blunders in life and now works at a book shop.
One day, he learns the news of the murder of his high school girlfriend “Hinata” by the famous gang “Tokyo Manji Gang” and starts to rush towards the train station. But unfortunately, he is pushed under the train and is transported back 12 years to when he was in high school.
He rushes towards Hinata’s house and witnesses her alive. Now, he has an aim: to save Hinata in the past to see her alive in the future. He can go back and forth in time with the help of Hinata’s brother, who is a police officer. Will he be able to see Hinata alive in the future, or will the changes in the past create more complications for him in the future?
- Number of Episodes: 24 episodes
- Personal Rating: 8.20.
9. Parasyte
Parasyte anime follows the curse aspect of Summer Time Rendering. It takes place in a world invaded by small aliens known as “parasites,” which can control humans by entering their brains. But our main protagonist, “Shinichi” confronts a parasite who cannot reach his mind and remains in his hand.
Shinichi forms a symbiotic relationship with his parasite “Migi,” and both of them try to eradicate the parasites from the planet. But during all this, Shinichi comes in contact with a girl, “Kana” who can sense people that have parasites inside them.
Things take different turns throughout the anime, and we learn that there are many things about the human heart that a parasite cannot understand. The unique aspect of this anime is the animation, the mystery aspect, and that it was adapted from the 1995’s original manga, which is amazing considering how old the source is.
- Number of Episodes: 24 episodes
- Personal rating: 9.90.
10. Mononoke
When you think of a horror anime, you expect to be scared. But you never expect to be bewildered and this horror anime does that.
Mononoke tells us the story of “Kusuriuri,” a medicine seller, who has a vast knowledge of medicine, and using this knowledge, he travels the world eradicating Mononoke (evil spirits). But he has to follow a specific procedure for doing so, which involves finding the shape, reasoning, and the truth of the spirit.
When all conditions have been met, his sword activates, and he is transformed into a demon-like creature that exorcises its target. The mystery aspect of this anime has been just as appealing as Summer Time Rendering with a bit of horror and supernatural touch.
- Number of Episodes: 12 episodes
- Personal rating: 9.20
11. Link Click
It is a Chinese Anime (Chinese Donghua) that has made into the most popular anime of all time list, and for a good reason, of course. The main premise of the anime is based on the time-travel theme, and it follows the story of two boys “Xiaoshi” and “Guang” who run a shop named “Time Photo Studio.”
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The special thing about these boys is that they both have the power to enter photographs and go into the past, where they see the events of the photograph from the perspective of the photographer.
People mostly hire these boys to solve some things or change some circumstances in the time during the photograph for their benefit. But with great power comes great responsibility. Even if they mess up a little detail in the past, the future can become drastic for their customers.
So Link Click follows the life of two boys trying to make a living by entering others’ pasts. The best thing about this series is the mystery between the two boys and the top-class opening songs.
12. Steins: Gate
Steins: Gate is one of the highest-rated series, which follows the time-travel aspect. It follows the story of “Okabe,” a mad scientist who, along with his two friends “Mayuri” and “Hashida,” establishes a Future Gadget Laboratory in his room. Every day, he tries to invest in a gadget that will amaze humanity, but all he has invented is a microwave, which he can control with his mobile phone, that can convert a banana into the green matter.
But things start to turn strange when he visits a scientist’s conference on time travel, learns new things about his microwave, and gets déjà vu on many events around him. The first 7-8 episodes might be boring for you, but hang on, as what is to come will blow your mind.
